Today during my flying lesson I have been learning about forced landings. In the unlikely event of engine failure (or statistically a lot more probable event in Africa…). This involved landing with no Engine power which was one of the most exhilarating and scary things I have done so far. Firstly imagine the plane In which I am learning – A Technam Super Echo, basically one of the lightest of planes you can get – virtually a micro light. This makes it extremely manoeuvrable with a good Glide ratio (about 15:1) meaning that for every 15 foot you move forward you lose one foot of altitude. Unfortunately the lightweight construction also means that if you crash it. You, not the plane, will take the full force of the impact most likely on your face or balls. So as we were passing parallel to the airfield, Grant my instructor Cut the engine at about 800ft telling me that we were going to glide in. The lack of noise from the propeller was extremely unnerving as was the sound of wind from the wings and the steady downwards indication from the Altimeter. But as you can tell from the fact that I’m still writing this I managed to cope fairly well, resisting the temptation to pull back on the stick (which would result in a loss off speed and ultimately stalling straight onto the tarmac) and touched down nicely on the centre of the runway. After this I feel I’m ready to go solo. Something I believe I’ll be doing on Thursday.